5 Mexican Police Killed Blocking Marijuana Truck

SAN FERNANDO, Mexico — Five police officers were killed and three more were wounded when they tried to detain a truck loaded with marijuana on the outskirts of this northeastern town, a local judge said today.

Judge Dagoberto Herrera said in a telephone interview that the police apparently were caught by surprise by two men traveling in the truck. He said the officers killed and wounded made up the entire police force of the town of 40,000 people.

"The police didn't have time to shoot because they still had the safety on their weapons," Herrera said.

A secretary at the district attorney's office said the two suspected gunmen were arrested today in Reynosa, near the U.S. border, and were being interrogated there.

San Fernando is in the northeastern border state of Tamaulipas, 110 miles south of Matamoros on the road to the state capital, Ciudad Victoria.